i have a museum of curiosities

"Why are you at Xu Caikun's house?" Zhang Ye asked frantically.

"Aren't we here to investigate the mystery of his disappearance? I'm here to investigate the scene." Ling Xiaotao replied.

"Kan..." Zhang couldn't help but choked up, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "So you also cleaned his house?"

"Of course not." Ling Xiaotao shook her head and said. "I wouldn't be so kind. By the way, did Jiang Tingting send it back?"

Zhang Ye's face turned red, and he said anxiously: "Send, send it back... Then, isn't that a matter of course? Don't talk about this, have you been attacked by strange talk before?"

"Yeah, you know all of this?" Ling Xiaotao was obviously surprised.

Without even thinking about it, Zhang also told about his encounter with Lia Li and Xiao Hei.

After listening, Ling Xiaotao couldn't help clapping her hands, "Zhang Ye, you really deserve it! To subdue the Gap Girl and Xiao Hei...you have a really big brain! Speaking of which, I read the protagonist in an online novel. It was by kissing the Gap Girl that I escaped her pursuit of death."

"Kiss... the scale is a bit big..." Zhang couldn't help but his face was full of black lines, and a picture appeared in his mind, and then he couldn't help shivering.

"However, after all, they are characters in novels, not real ghost stories." Ling Xiaotao asked curiously: "After this case is solved, what will you do with it? Maybe they will disappear."

Zhang Ye scratched his head in embarrassment, and said, "I haven't thought about it that much, let's solve the case first."

Ling Xiaotao nodded, did not continue the topic, but pointed to the clean and tidy living room and asked, "Looking at the cleanliness, do you think of anything?"

"What?" Zhang Ye scratched his head and asked.

"Have you watched "Tang Detective"?" Ling Xiaotao asked.

Zhang Ye nodded, and then seemed to think of something, and said in unison with Ling Xiaotao: "The room is clean and odorless, either a fake girl or a gay!"

"Isn't this... a joke in the movie? Can it also be used as a basis for reasoning?" Zhang couldn't help asking.

"There is some truth to it." Ling Xiaotao replied, "Not all reasoning is 100% accurate, so it might as well be one of the directions of investigation."

Zhang Ye nodded silently, and then informed Ling Xiaotao of his system tasks.

"The Vanishing Lover... This title is really..." Ling Xiaotao curled her lips lightly.

"What is it really?" Zhang also thought she had discovered something, so he hurriedly asked.

"It's fascinating." Ling Xiaotao chuckled.

"I think you're just thinking about it..." Zhang Ye curled his lips helplessly, "I thought you found something..."

Ling Xiaotao smiled mysteriously, and said, "Then how do you understand...'disappear'?"

"Missing..." Zhang Ye said casually, and then a flash of lightning flashed in his mind, as if he had caught something.

"There is a problem! Usually when we say that a person is missing, we seldom use the word 'disappear', but say 'disappeared'. Disappearing... seems to be very sudden, but it is very certain that the other party has disappeared, and even in a very... ...Strange?" Zhang couldn't help but frowned, "So, the museum system believes that Xu Caikun disappeared suddenly...Oh, by the way, how did you get the surveillance video from the 27th Institute?"

Ling Xiaotao was stunned for a moment, and said, "The case was directly assigned by the superiors, and the monitoring was naturally passed over by the Forensics Department. Why, there is a problem with the monitoring?"

"Yes!" Zhang also nodded, and said in a deep voice, "I don't know about other units, but there is no surveillance camera in Unit 8 of Building 3!"

"Are you suspecting...there is a problem with this case?" Ling Xiaotao's voice was very flat, unable to hear joy or sorrow, "Or...all the problems in 27?"

"I'm not, I haven't, don't talk nonsense!" Zhang Ye hurriedly waved his hand to deny it.

Just a joke, a plain-headed commoner suspects that there is a problem in the organization, isn't this the toilet lighting up!
Ling Xiaotao didn't make a statement, but instead asked, "What else do you find?"

Zhang also thought about it and told about Xu Caikun's illusion.Ling Xiaotao just said "um" after listening.

Zhang also felt a little embarrassed for a moment, so he asked, "What about you? Have you been in for a while? Did you find anything?"

Originally, Zhang Ye was just deliberately finding a topic to avoid embarrassment, but Ling Xiaotao nodded and said, "The other rooms are normal except for being too tidy. Only the innermost room cannot be entered."

With that said, Ling Xiaotao pointed to the room facing the living room.

"Where is...the study?" Zhang Ye asked with a frown.

"Should be." Ling Xiaotao nodded and said, "There is no computer in the other rooms, which is exactly the necessary equipment for an online writer."

"So...the secret is behind this door." Zhang Ye nodded secretly.

Zhang Ye came to the door and tried to turn the doorknob, but it didn't move at all - not the feeling of being locked and unable to turn, but as if the doorknob was directly welded to the door!
"No need to try. I've already tried..." Ling Xiaotao said lightly: "I've tried all kinds of methods. Now, this is the burn mark from the 'Fire Talisman'... this is from the 'Thunderbolt Talisman' blown up A small hole... this is a small spot drilled by the 'penetrating character'..."

Ling Xiaotao pointed to the wooden doors full of marks and explained one by one, and Zhang Ye could only feel his eyelids twitching wildly.

"...Based on the traces left by various charms, I need at least fifty B-level talismans to open this wooden door." Ling Xiaotao couldn't help but glance at the corner of her mouth when she said this, "But I only have thirty or so on me. Zhang talisman."

Zhang Ye swallowed his saliva and said, "How about... let me try?"

Ling Xiaotao tilted her head slightly, "Okay, try it!"

Zhang Ye smiled awkwardly, and a white flame suddenly ignited on his right index finger, which was the "source of fire".

"呲-"

The moment "Yuanhuo" came into contact with the wooden door, it made a teeth-piercing sound, and Zhang Ye's eyebrows instantly raised.

It's incredible!

Since Zhang Ye got the "source of fire", no matter whether he was facing a sixth-grade weapon or any mechanism or anti-theft door, it was only a matter of one click.But the wooden door in front of him is almost completely unafraid of being burned by the "source fire"!

With a thought in Zhang Ye's mind, "Yuanhuo" disappeared from his fingertips, leaving a shallow mark on the wooden door.

"Not bad! The flame you used just now has the power of nearly A-level." Ling Xiaotao couldn't help but admire.

Zhang Ye frowned.

What the hell?

The majestic source of all fire, only A-level? !Also "nearly"? !

Seeing Zhang Ye's dissatisfaction, Ling Xiaotao reached out and patted his shoulder, saying, "Don't be sad, I actually have some guesses, do you want to hear it?"

Zhang Ye nodded, and Ling Xiaotao pointed to the sofa in the living room, and said, "Let's go and talk."

The two walked to the sofa in the living room and sat down. Ling Xiaotao then said, "You just said that the task you received has a full seven-day time limit, right?"

"Yeah." Zhang Ye glanced at the countdown and said, "There are 6 days, 19 hours and 37 minutes left."

"That's right." The corner of Ling Xiaotao's mouth curled up slightly, and said, "It's like a game. We all know that the truth may be hidden behind that door, but that truth is not accessible to us who have just entered the 'game' Yes! There must be a process of slowly solving the mystery and getting closer to the truth."

"You mean... this is a game?" Zhang Ye nodded slowly, "... makes sense!"

"According to the clues we have now, Xu Caikun's disappearance may be caused by his novels. But have you ever thought about it," Ling Xiaotao crossed her hands gently on her chest, and said slowly : "Internet novels are intangible things! What turned into ghost stories? Xu Caikun's computer? Internet viruses? Or the website where he publishes novels? Or is the novel itself affected by Yin Qi?"

Zhang Ye nodded silently, "It seems to be possible, but it doesn't seem right."

"Oh? Why?" Ling Xiaotao asked back.

"Because at the end of that illusion, Xu Caikun seemed to be controlled by some force and entered Room 401. If it is an online novel or an online platform, why is it so obsessed with reflecting its 'power' with real things? It is entirely possible to draw Xu Caikun Enter the novel world!"

"So... you think it's not Xu Caikun's novel that really turned into a ghost story, but something in reality?" Ling Xiaotao asked back.

Zhang also nodded slowly.

"What do you think of room 401?" Ling Xiaotao asked suddenly.

"I just took a look in the corridor, and I only feel that it is very old-fashioned and old-fashioned. There is nothing else... But the corridor in the fantasy makes people feel very weird and uncomfortable!"

Speaking of this, Zhang Ye described to Ling Xiaotao the corridor shrouded in scarlet light.

Ling Xiaotao also fell into deep thought after listening.

After a while, she slowly opened her mouth and said, "What's your idea? Enter 401 to have a look?"

Zhang Ye pondered for a while, and said, "Perhaps this is the only way so far."

"But have you ever thought that the picture you saw in the hallucination may actually be an ordinary house in 401." Ling Xiaotao said: "Don't forget, the corridors you see are all different."

"You mean..." Zhang couldn't help looking at Ling Xiaotao.

"You've also overlooked a place worth investigating."

"where?"

"elevator."

Zhang Ye was startled for a moment, then shook his head and said, "The elevator gives me a very weird feeling, I think... it's better to keep a distance from it at this stage."

"Then what do you think..." Ling Xiaotao asked back.

"Wait!" Zhang Ye laughed and said, "I think Lia Li and Xiao Hei might bring us unexpected information."

Ling Xiaotao nodded slowly, and said, "Then let's take a rest."

However, Zhang Ye's face turned red slightly, and he said with some coercion, "That...Tao, Taozi, I have something to ask you."

Ling Xiaotao leaned back on the sofa and said, "I know what you want to ask. The Li Yanzhen you met in the other world was indeed me for a while."

"For a while?" Zhang was also a little confused.

"Don't you think Li Yanzhen is very different from before and after?" Ling Xiaotao asked with a smile.

Zhang couldn't help being slightly taken aback, and after thinking for a while, he slowly said: "I thought... it was my illusion. It turns out that Li Yan really has changed into a different person..."

"Found it?" Ling Xiaotao asked with a smile.

But Zhang Ye sighed, laughed at himself, and said, "I'm so stupid! I didn't realize it until now... When I first met Li Yanzhen, she was obviously a little girl who just entered the rivers and lakes and didn't understand anything. She even pretended to be full of mouth. Jianghu talk. But then she turned into a girl who speaks well and speaks well... such an obvious difference that I actually..."

"You don't have to be so upset." Ling Xiaotao smiled and said, "I used a little trick to make you blur your first impression of Li Yanzhen. It won't be until you leave the other world that your memory will slowly recover."

"So that's how it is..." Zhang couldn't help but nodded in surprise, and his evaluation of Ling Xiaotao went up to a higher level.

"Then when do you think I 'replaced' her?" Ling Xiaotao continued to ask.

"Hmm..." Zhang Ye touched his chin and fell into recollection, and after a while he tentatively asked: "When I went to rescue Shen Qi? (*See Chapter 22 for details. on...)"

The corner of Ling Xiaotao's mouth curled up in a beautiful arc, "It seems that you are not too dull."

"But... what's going on? You're not an administrator." Zhang asked inexplicably.

"Let's put it this way, in that world, there was originally Li Yanzhen, and I just borrowed her body temporarily." Ling Xiaotao said.

"What do you mean? Soul wear?" Zhang Ye was still puzzled.

"'Dream Curse'." Ling Xiaotao said: "You can understand that I entered Li Yanzhen's dream and then manipulated her body."

"Dream?" Zhang Ye frowned, "Sounds amazing! But... I remember that Li Yanzhen was not asleep at the time..."

"Entering a dream is just a way of saying, a metaphor." Ling Xiaotao said, "Just like you regard the present world as the real world, and the dream as a different world, entering a dream means that the soul travels to another world. It's just the 'Dream Curse' It has a lot of limitations and side effects."

"I don't know how serious it is." Zhang Ye touched his chin and said.

Ling Xiaotao didn't force her to explain, and Zhang was too embarrassed to ask any more.After all, this is someone's secret method, and it's already a great face to be willing to tell yourself what's going on. If you don't know what's good and then ask the reason, I'm afraid you will be disgusted by others.

It's just that Zhang Ye still has the biggest question: since Ling Xiaotao temporarily replaced Li Yanzhen by "entering the dream", it means that the two have no direct relationship, so why do they look exactly the same?
You know, it was because Zhang Ye accidentally caught a glimpse of Ling Xiaotao's and Li Yanzhen's identical faces before, that made him suspect her relationship with Li Yanzhen.

"Then shall I call you 'Yanzhen'... or 'Taozi'?" Zhang Ye asked stupidly.

"What do you think?" Ling Xiaotao pouted and asked.

"Peach... peach?"

"Huh!" Ling Xiaotao snorted softly, but she wasn't dissatisfied.

Zhang Ye smirked, his heart beating a little faster for no reason.

"Taozi...can you lift up your hair?" Zhang Ye asked tentatively.

"What...what are you doing?" Ling Xiaotao's voice suddenly rose a little, and her body subconsciously moved away from Zhang Ye.

"No, no, nothing, nothing... just... just..." Zhang Ye held back for a while, and finally mustered up the courage to say, "I just want to take a good look at your face!"

Ling Xiaotao clenched her hands suddenly, showing that she was not at peace.

"Yes, what's interesting..."

"It's beautiful! It's so beautiful! You are the prettiest..." After Zhang Ye finished speaking in a panic, he immediately realized something, and hurriedly waved his hands and said, "I don't, it's not that, that's not what it means! Don't... …Do not misunderstand……"

Ling Xiaotao's heart stopped beating suddenly, and then she leaned on the back of the sofa in a panic, and said in a panic, "You...don't talk nonsense! I...I'm not that kind of casual person!"

Although her mouth was a little unscrupulous, Ling Xiaotao felt inexplicably happy, and the corners of her mouth curled up unconsciously.

The atmosphere between the two gradually became ambiguous.

Zhang Ye took a deep breath, and finally regained some sense, and finally remembered the reason why he said so many mistakes, scratched his head in embarrassment, and then felt a little at a loss and fidgeted.

At this moment, Zhang Ye suddenly let out a muffled snort, and curled up all of a sudden.

"You, what's wrong with you?" Ling Xiaotao was startled, and hurriedly stretched out her hand to grab Zhang Ye.

There was a bead of sweat on Zhang Ye's forehead, and then he gritted his teeth and said, "The two lower-level spirit bodies I sent out to check on your whereabouts... were killed!"